On The Road Quest

Imagine a world where the skies are grey and the ground is torn to pieces. Where there is no civilisation present, nor another human being to be seen. Where the feeling of hunger influences you to consider the idea of human flesh filling your insides and persuading you to do so. A world infested with murder, crime and despair- which have now become necessary for survival. Imagine the air thick with black clouds towering over your very essence and having to muddle through 10 feet of snow and a strong gust of wind. A world where all faith should be gone, but amiss all bad things, it continues to linger through the eyes of the youth. Being able to see the light when your surroundings are pitch black signifies that humanity has not been lost completely. Although, the man knows in his heart that death is inevitable and dangerously close, he continues to live for the sake of the boy whom he believes carries the final hope for humanity.

In a world where survival is your only concern, what would you do to stay alive? This is one of many thought-provoking questions that Cormac McCarthy encourages in his book, The Road. McCarthy, a Rhode Island native is a seasoned author, with more than 14 other works in his portfolio. McCarthy is a very private man, and there isn’t a lot known about him. The lack of information on McCarthy does not reflect his writing abilities, which are very strong and not lacking at all.

In each novel of his personal literary journey, Cormac McCarthy examines death and God in different ways. Edwin T. Arnold, who wrote his essay “Blood and Grace: The Fiction of Cormac McCarthy” before The Road, examines how “McCarthy’s protagonists are most often those who, in their travels, are bereft of the voice of God and yet yearn to hear him speak” (14). In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the father explicitly describes his son as god; however, by juxtaposing the father and the son and examining their divine resemblances, it is not the boy but the man who embodies God, supporting Ely’s claim that this post-apocalyptic world is too harsh for God to exist.

As one is put through times of strife and struggle, an individual begins to lose their sense of human moral and switch into survival mode. Their main focus is their own survival, not of another's. In the post-apocalyptic novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a father and son travel along the road towards the coast, while battling to survive the harsh weather and scarce food supply, as well as avoid any threats that could do them harm. Throughout their journey along the road, the father and son are exposed to the horrid remnants of humanity. As a result, the father and son constantly refer to themselves as “the good guys” and that they “carry the fire”, meaning they carry the last existing spark of humanity within themselves. By the acts of compassion

The Road by Cormac McCarthy details a post-apocalyptic world with mysterious origins. While there are many questions about this world, the reader is left to their own imagination to determine how it got that way. Within this world, there is a man and a boy, father and son trying to make their way and survive until they can find a safe haven that may or may not exist. The see many things along the way and the man instills in the boy that it is important to remain a good guy and always “carry the fire”. Carrying the fire refers to the light inside of you that makes you who you are and may also carry the “goodness” of human nature. Inevitably, the man meets his fate via a mysterious illness leaving the boy on his own. The boy is then introduced to a family that has been following them knowing that the man was not well and the boy would need someone to look after him.

Cormac McCarthy's the Road is a post-apocalyptic book with odd writing style that has no commas quotations or even chapters. The way he writes is in a a way of a story being told in sections. He also has a very advance, dark, and detailed type of vocabulary being told. He will also go to a dream section or flash back section without any notification that it will happen. What

In the 21st century people seem to have become more fixated on how the world is going to end than actually living in it. This is evident in the numerous post-apocalyptic dystopian bestsellers there have been recently. One of the most prominent of those is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Separating it from the flood of numerous other books in its genre McCarthy and The Road challenges existing motifs of post-apocalyptic literature. The Road uses these themes to focus on the central idea of good vs evil.

More than once in every man’s life he has yearned for something that is out of his reach. Whether it be fashionable clothes, an elaborate home, a newer car, or a more desirable career, some things are unattainable. George Milton, one of the main characters

Throughout the novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, McCarthy repetitively uses symbolism to portray several deeper themes throughout the novel. One theme of the symbolism that is mentioned many times in The Road is the fire. A significant occurrence of this is when the man is discussing the fire with the boy. '' 'Is the fire real? I don`t know where it.' 'Yes you do. It's inside you. It always was there. I can see it' "(McCarthy 279).The fire represents the hope for humanity, and the man sees the fire inside the boy. The boy shows compassion for everything, alive or dead. Not only does the fire symbolize the hope for humanity but it represents strength and the will to live. During the novel fires are lit to keep The Man and Boy safe and warm but the fire keeps them alive even in the heart of the storm.

Some readers of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006) have disputed that the characters in the novel are on a “Quest for God” especially when the future looks so bleak and hopeless as it does in this novel. Why would McCarthy be on a quest for God? For instance, Steven Frye (2009) believes there are a deeper human experience and reflection is what McCarthy writes about and not a “Quest for God”. Frye refers to this passage in The Road,” Just remember that things you put into your head are there forever…You might want to think about that. You forget some things don’t you? Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget” (12). This example shows that the characters are using experience from their past, not

The Road is a story where is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where the date and location is unnamed. The author of the novel Cormac McCarthy doesn 't describe why or how the disaster has demolish the earth. But after reading the novel, I can sense that the author wanted to present a case of mystery and fear to the unknown to the reader. By the author 's exclusion I think that the story gains a better understanding of what the author wanted to express to the reader. An expression of a man and his son surviving in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Jack Kerouac does an excellent job of commenting on the 1950’s American society through his novel ‘On The Road’. Kerouac bases his novel in a era in which American society is experiencing significant changes in values and lifestyle. The novel follows a group of friends while they explore what it means to live American life “on the road”. During their travels, they explore sexuality, define their morals, and learn how unattainable true happiness really is. Kerouac develops very complex characters as the story progresses. Through the characters’ feelings and actions, Kerouac is able to convey an atmosphere of universal loneliness. The author uses these characters to comment on the negative aspects of the decade and how they result in severe unhappiness

Jack Kerouac was one of a group of young men who, immediately after the Second World War, protested against what they saw as the blandness, conformity and lack of cultural purpose of middle-class life in America. The priorities of people of their age, in the mainstream of society, were to get married, to move the suburbs, to have children and to accumulate wealth and possessions. Jack Kerouac and his friends consciously rejected this pursuit of stability and instead looked elsewhere for personal fulfillment. They were the Beats, the pioneers of a counterculture that came to be known as the Beat Generation. The Beats saw mainstream life as a prison. They wanted freedom, the freedom to pick up and go at a moments notice. This search for

Jack Kerouac is considered a legend in history as one of America's best and foremost Beat Generation authors. The term "Beat" or "Beatnic" refers to the spontaneous and wandering way of life for some people during the period of postwar America, that seemed to be induced by jazz and drug-induced visions. "On the Road" was one such experience of Beatnic lifestyle through the eyes and heart of Jack Kerouac. It was a time when America was rebuilding after WW I. Describing the complexity and prosperity of the postwar society was not Karouac's original intent. However, this book described it a way everyone could visualize. It contained examples and experiences of common people looking for new and exciting

     Jack Kerouac is the first to explore the world of the wandering hoboes in his novel, On the Road. He created a world that shows the lives and motivations of this culture he himself named the 'Beats.' Kerouac saw the beats as people who rebel against everything accepted to gain freedom and expression. Although he has been highly criticized for his lack of writing skills, he made a novel that is both realistic and enjoyable to read. He has a complete disregard for developed of plot or characters, yet his descriptions are incredible. Kerouac?s novel On the Road defined the post World War II generation known as the 'beats.'